Posted by Elena del Valle on September 13, 2013
The Power of Latino Leadership book cover
Leadership specialist Juana Bordas thinks Latino leaders are powerful, distinctive, and offer lessons that can inform other leaders. In The Power of Latino Leadership Culture, Inclusion, and Contribution (Berrett-Koehler Publishers, $19.95) she strives to outline the principles and practices of how, she believes, Latinos lead.
The 261-page softcover book is divided into five main parts and thirteen chapters.
In the book, peppered liberally with Spanish language words, Bordas includes comments from a few politicians and nonprofit Latino leaders. She also shares sayings she hopes illustrate Latino culture, and even notes on how, in her opinion, the Spanish language itself influences and reflects the Latino worldview.
Bordas is president of Mestiza Leadership International. Prior to that she was vice president of the Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership’s board, and trustee of the International Leadership Association.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on September 6, 2013
Big Data book cover
Photos: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
The recent revelations of government surveillance of United States citizens electronic and phone communications via National Security Agency programs has brought the issue of data collection at a mass level to the foreground. Other government programs such as police department vehicles photographing random vehicles as they drive around and the United States Postal Service program that photographs all mail and opens some mail for inspection have come to light recently. Privacy advocates draw attention to the lack of regulations for the use and storage of all that data and the potential harmful effects and unintended consequences it might bring.
Add that to data the private sector gathers on its own employees and consumers for marketing and sales purposes, often without their knowledge, from public and private sources such as credit reports and social media pages and it’s enough for reasonable people to be wary. In Big Data A Revolution That Will Transform How We Live, Work, and Think Viktor Mayer-Schönberger and Kenneth Cukier (Eamon Dolan/Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $27) suggest that big data gathering and analysis is transforming the way we see people and the world in a revolutionary way.
Kenneth Cukier, coauthor, Big Data
In the 242-page hardcover book, they share with readers insights on the interesting and alarming impact they believe electronic surveillance is having on our lives from business to government, science, safety and privacy, and how we think and view patterns and the world. From employee monitoring via GPS tracking to player scouting and the business search for efficiencies that drive profits big data is changing the way we do things.
Viktor Mayer-Schönberger, coauthor, Big Data
They point out that data compilation should be more than cold hard facts and information. There should be a space for human intuition, serendipity and common sense, they say; adding that “What is greatest about human beings is precisely what the algorithms and silicon chips don’t reveal…” because it can’t be captured in data.
The less glamorous worrisome side of data gathering concerns privacy in a setting in which notice to individuals, consent, opting out and anonymity are almost no longer possible, they point out. Between government surveillance and commercial tools like apps personal data is used, sold, and repurposed for use by others in ways that were not thought about when the data was gathered. Predicting consumer behavior based on data could lead to dangerous and even amoral uses.
Mayer-Schönberger is professor of Internet governance and regulation at the Oxford Internet Institute at Oxford University. Kenneth Cukier is data editor at The Economist.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on August 29, 2013
Infinite Progress book cover
Photos: Byron Reese
Our future is rosy. So much so that ignorance, disease, poverty, hunger and war will end thanks to technology and the Internet. The power of technology to transform our lives will be so profound as to usher in a new golden age. So believes Byron Reese founder of several high tech companies and head of research and development for another.
In his book, Infinite Progress: How the Internet and Technology Will End Ignorance, Disease, Poverty, Hunger, and War (Greenleaf Book Group, $25.95) he explains his thinking.
It took Reese six months to write the book, in the evenings. It was originally much longer, he explained by email.
“The book is aimed at a general audience. I suspect that optimists will be more inclined to read it than pessimists,” said the author in response to questions about the target audience for his book and the response he has had so far to the idea of a future golden area brought by technological advances. “People have responded enthusiastically. There are many people who want to believe in a better tomorrow, but the relentless negativity of the media has caused people to call it into doubt. I wrote the book as a case to defend the optimistic viewpoint.”
Byron Reese, author, Infinite Progress
The 295-page softcover book, published March 2013, is divided into an Introduction and seven sections: An Optimist’s Reasoning in Five Easy Premises, The End of Ignorance, The End of Disease, The End of Poverty, The End of Hunger, The End of War, and In Conclusion.
He says in the chapter about poverty that technology is able, without limits, to raise standard of living worldwide. Machines will do more of the labor that doesn’t require human capabilities, allowing people leisure time and abundance.
If we look at history, he says, technology and free enterprise will inevitably lead to wealth even for the poorest people in the world until poverty, as we define it today, ceases to exist. Reese is chief innovation officer at Demand Media in Austin, Texas.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on August 9, 2013
Consumer.ology cover
Photos: Nicholas Brealey Publishing
Our unconscious mind makes decisions without checking in with our conscious mind. So believes Philip Graves, a consumer behavior observer. It doesn’t always matter what we think we should do or anticipate we will do in a given situation if we’re asked in advance. Instead, what matters is what we actually do when the situation arises. Often the two conflict, according to Graves.
In Consumer.ology The Truth about Consumers and the Psychology of Shopping (Nicholas Brealey Publishing, $19.95), a 225-page softcover book published this year, Graves addresses consumer behavior as it relates to shopping.
He proposes that people’s psychological traits are more likely to determine their behavior in response to something new than whatever they might believe or respond when asked by a researcher. The unconscious mind and context mold our thoughts and behavior in unexpected ways, according to him.
For these reasons, in his view, market research is a waste of money, a false science. This is proven, according to him, because people frequently don’t do what they say they will do when responding to surveys and market researchers questions.
“It’s hard to generalise by sociodemographic groups and, often, not particularly helpful to do so: often it’s better to look at a type of behaviour and work back from there. That said, as a generalisation, I see men and women going about shopping in quite different ways sometimes,” Graves said by email when asked whether he has observed shopping trends by groups of people with common characteristics.
“Men are often more specific in their focus and less good at browsing to find what they want; they also tend to have a greater need to feel powerful in interactions with retailers (although, in the face of genuine product expertise this tends to go away). That said, I would say that more and more men are shopping in a way that was characteristically female a few years ago: enjoying browsing and using shopping as a leisure pursuit in its own right.”
In lieu of market research he suggests the AFECT approach (analysis of behavioral data, frame of mind, environment, covert study, and timeframe) for companies to evaluate the usefulness of consumer insight favors the method he believes “embraces a true awareness of the consumer decision-making process and how the subconscious mind drives shopping behavior.”
It took the author one year to research the book which was first published in 2010. Later he decided additions were necessary and spent a month on the extra content for the updated edition published in 2013. When asked about challenges and rewards of writing the book he said: “The biggest challenge I’ve had in presenting the issues from the book is when I run into people’s beliefs surrounding traditional market research. Rather than participate in a constructive debate or weigh up the evidence, some people who have been heavily involved in market research won’t consider the issue scientifically. I understand the psychology involved, but it still sometimes surprises me that people with so much to gain by reevaluating what they do aren’t willing to do so; after all, this is about their job, not their religion!
The biggest reward is, without doubt, the opportunities that having the book out there in the world have brought to me; opportunities to travel the world, meet fascinating people and explore their challenges with them. So far I’ve given talks at events in the UK, Brazil, Belgium, Germany and the US (including to the EU and UK Cabinet Office), become an associate of the UK’s leading economics consultancy, Frontier Economics, and joined the advisory board of Next IT, a US technology company that leads the market in intelligent virtual assistants. The joy for me comes where other people take my work and invite me to help them build on it through applying the principles to their business.”
Philip Graves, author, Consumer.ology
To the question of whether it’s ethical to attempt to influence people’s unconscious minds without their realizing it he responds that all communication is intended to influence. Graves has twenty years of experience observing consumers, first as a traditional market researcher and later using psychoanalytical techniques. He has advised Comet, ITV, Whirlpool, Doc Martens, New Convent Garden Food Company, Camelot, Virgin Media, Hotpoint, Lloyds TSB, Pepsi, and HSBC.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on August 2, 2013
Boxing for Cuba book cover
Photos: Fulcrum Books
In the 1950s, the Vidal Family like many in Cuba who saw the country spiraling downward, sent their three children to the United States in search of safety and a better future. Operation Peter Pan made that possible but instead of placing the brothers with relatives in Miami, as the Vidals had hoped, they were sent to the Sacred Heart Orphanage in Colorado for four years.
Guillermo Vicente Vidal, one of the boys, now an adult living in Denver, shares his and his family’s story in Boxing for Cuba An Immigrant’s Story (Fulcrum Books, $18.95). The 248-page softcover book first published in 2007 is divided into 14 chapters.
Bill Vidal, author, Boxing for Cuba
In the book, the author shares his best memories of his and his family’s immigrant journey toward a new life in the United States. Peppered among the pages, especially in the early chapters, are a few black and white photos of Vidal and his family.
Born in Camagüey, Cuba, Vidal grew up in Colorado. Following graduation from the University of Colorado, he held various government positions before becoming the city’s first immigrant born mayor. Vidal is now president and CEO of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metro Denver.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on July 12, 2013
In Living Color
Nina Jablonski, professor, Anthropology at Pennsylvania State University believes there is no such thing as a pure race. Her research indicates skin color developed as a way for humans to adapt to their surroundings and over time became a means, with little relationship to reality, to label someone’s social worth. In Living Color: The Biological and Social Meaning of Skin Color (California University Press, $29.95) she explores these concepts.
The 260-page hardcover book published in 2012 is divided into two main sections. In the first half of the book, she examines the biology of skin tone and how over the centuries skin pigmentation allowed people to adjust to their environment. Skin color in pale people comes from blood and the skins own connective tissues. Eumelanin is the dominant source of skin color in general. Light skin was necessary for populations living in regions with little sunlight while dark skins shades were useful in places with an abundance of sunlight. She addresses the challenges brought about when migration, travel and modern life cause people to live away from their ancestral home, citing vitamin D deficiency as one of the dangers.
In the second half of the book, she delves into the origin of the concept of race saying there is no such thing as pure human populations or races. Over history, she says, people mixed with other people around the globe resulting in mongrel groupings with only minor variances. In time, European elites contributed to the idea of races categorized by skin color, social worth and cultural capability. Because of its association with positive aspects and high standing a preference for light skin arose independently in different countries, according to the professor.
This in turn led to the social stratification, discrimination and racism that endure today. She goes on to say in the closing chapter that in the United States and many developed countries people with the darkest skin color remain in the “periphery of society” and are physically marginalized suffering from restricted access to high quality education, food, and health care.
Jablonski, recipient of the 2012 Guggenheim Fellowship, is also author of Skin: A Natural History.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on June 28, 2013
You Can Beat Lung Cancer
Photos: Carl Helvie, Francisco Contreras, Tanya Harter Pierce, Bernie Siegel
Carl Helvie, RN, DrPH, now 81 years old, was told 38 years ago that he had lung cancer and only six months left to live. He recovered with alternative healing methods in lieu of traditional cancer medical treatments such as surgery and chemotherapy. Today, he’s healthy, takes no prescription medications and is one of the longest living cancer survivors, according to You Can Beat Lung Cancer: Using Alternative/Integrative Interventions (Ayni Books, $26.95). The 312-page softcover book published this year is divided into four main sections: an overview of lung cancer, the author’s own experience, medical issues, and holistic treatment options.
“Harsh chemicals, devastating surgeries and painful procedures for conventional cancer treatment are not your only option,” said Helvie in a press release. “I saw that lung cancer survival rates had not changed over time and wanted people to know there are other non-toxic, non-invasive treatment options that are successful and I could speak as both a profession health care provider and educator and also as a long term survivor who use non-toxic interventions,” he said by email when asked why the wrote the book now.
Helvie relied on holistic natural methods to treat his condition: supplements, herbs, enzymes, diet, prayer and meditation. His quality of life since the diagnosis of lung cancer has been superior than people often expect at his age. He points out that many older Americans have some form of chronic illness and by age 75 may be taking five prescribed medications daily.
Helvie is not surprised by the recent findings of a team of researchers in Washington State who discovered that chemotherapy fuels the growth of cancer cells, making it more difficult to destroy them in subsequent sessions.
Carl Helvie, RN, author, You Can Beat Lung Cancer
“No I do not receive money for services or products. As a cancer survivor and registered nurse I believe in helping others and the help I can provide should be offered for free,” said the author by email in response to a question about whether he sells products or services to treat lung cancer. “I communicate with around 60 cancer patients monthly and provide encouragement, support, and resources as best meets their needs. God saved my life when I had cancer and I believe in offering whatever I can as futher evidence that God is in all of our lives.”
Francisco Contreras, M.D.
Tanya Harter Pierce, MA, MFCC
A registered nurse with two masters and a doctorate in public health and wellness, Dr. Helvie has decades of experience as a nurse practitioner, educator, author and researcher. According to promotional materials, he has published eight books and was a contributor to others, and has published or presented 100 papers and articles in the United States and abroad. Also, he developed and published a nursing theory used worldwide, and established a nursing center to provide primary care for homeless and low-income individuals and families. He hosts the Holistic Health Show on BBS Radio, counsels cancer patients, markets his books and is in the process of establishing a holistic cancer foundation.
Bernie Siegel, M.D.
Francisco Contreras, M.D., president and chairman, Oasis of Hope Hospital; Kim Dalzell, Ph.D., RD, LD, who has helped people with nutrition and cancer; James Forsythe, M.D., HDM, who practices integrative medical oncology and anti-aging medicine; Tanya Harter Pierce, MA, MFCC, author, Outsmart Your Cancer; and Bernie Siegel, M.D., a physician and author, also contributed to the book.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on June 14, 2013
Cracking The Icon Code
Photo: David Fagan
Influence, credibility and exposure combined can act as catalysts to success for business leaders who know how to leverage them, according to David T. Fagan, author, Cracking The Icon Code Learn How to Earn an Icon Status and How to Net 6 Figures from Your Image, Expertise and Advice (On the Inside Press, $14.95). He believes it’s good to establish complimentary relationships but that at the end of the day it’s a free capitalist market and competition is necessary.
In the book, he goes on to say that people who sell a product or service for a living need to establish good contacts and show their clients what makes them worth buying from compared to doing nothing or buying from a competitor. Being bold, causing a little controversy and speaking out about a topic can be beneficial, the author points out.
The more someone can do for others the more influential he or she is, he says in Chapter 4 where he provides a test for readers to determine their Icon Influence Factor. To lead, he points out, it’s necessary to have a high score. In the same chapter he has Credibility Competency Score and Exposure Energy Score tests. He dedicated two chapters to websites as marketing tools and discusses the value of media, writing a book and other ways a reader may spread his reputation as an icon.
The 157-page softcover book published this year is divided into 40 short easy-to-read chapters. Fagan is former chief executive officer of Guerrila Marketing. Books he authored or co-authored include: Guerrilla Rainmakers, The Inside Drive, How to Raise an Entrepreneur, Secrets of Peak Performers, Mad Ads: Madison Avenue Advertising on a Main Street Budget, and Zero to Hero in 90 Days or Less.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on June 7, 2013
Outsource Smart book cover
Photo: McGrall Hill
Daven Michaels, founder and chief executive officer, 123Employee, believes paying consultants outside a company to do work owners and managers can’t or don’t want to do will save the company time and money. In Outsource Smart Be Your Own Boss without Letting Your Business Become the Boss of You (McGraw Hill, $22) he explains his thinking. The more an executive can delegate, the better he says in the book. And, the more work a company can hire out the more money it saves on employee costs. In his book, he proposes that for every task there is a contractor available.
The 226-page softcover book published this year is divided into twelve chapters: The Outsourcing Paradigm, The New Definition of Insanity, Outsourcing 101, How to Hire and Train an Outsource VA, Legal and Financial Realities: How To Manage an Outsourced Virtual Assistant, The Marketing Funnel: Outsourced List-Building and List Creation, Outsourced Website Creation and Maintenance, Outsourced Article Marketing and Blogging, Outsourced Video Marketing, Outsourcing the Google Ranking Race, Quality Control in Bad Times, Quality Control in Good Times.
The author reasons that an executive who is working 16 hours a day should delegate or outsource any task below his pay grade. The alternative is that he is working extra hours at minimum wage performing tasks someone else could be doing more profitably. The top outsourcing countries, according to Michaels, are India, Philippines, Canada, Ireland and Russia followed by China, Mexico and South Africa. Each region, he explains, has areas of specialization.
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Posted by Elena del Valle on May 24, 2013
Innovate Products Faster book cover
Photo: TCGen Press
Developing new products does not require a slow and ineffective process. In Innovate Products Faster: Graphical Tools for Accelerating Product Development (TCGen Press, $19.95), John Carter and Jeanne Bradford, chief executive officer and principal respectively of TCGen Inc., make the case that companies can have innovation and speed. To do so, they say, it is necessary to have mastery of tools and methodologies that will support managers in making better decisions faster. They say the tools available should be those that can be quickly understood and implemented. They should be “tactically straightforward, but strategically powerful and can be applied across different industries and organizations, from start-ups to Fortune 100 companies,” according to the consultants.
For managers and their teams they propose a Product Innovation Process they have refined and tested with 50 clients. It has three checkpoints, Concept Check-In, Product Check-In, and Release Check-In, or defined interactions between the management and the core cross-functional development teams.
They serve as peer-to-peer discussions rather than critical, hierarchical, and stress-filled reviews. Carter and Bradford outlined five core disciplines and subsets of best practices for each one. The chapters, each dedicated to a single best practice, are divided into three parts: a description, a graphic and a fictional case study. The authors indicate the best practices apply to hardware, software, cloud, device or service development. They rely on three fictional companies to illustrate the case studies outlined throughout the book.
The 240-page soft cover book is divided into an Introduction and four sections: Strategy, Management, Execution, Organization, and Process. The authors suggest readers start at the Appendix where they list the solutions for the most common problems.
Carter, founder of the company, has advised technology firms such as Apple, Cisco, NetApp and IBM, over a 35-year career. He serves on the Board of Directors of Cirrus Logic. He has raised private equity to successfully execute a roll-up in the Consumer Electronics sector and has assumed senior executive roles.
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